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Hat-trick hero Walcott has England boss Capello beaming

England boss Fabio Capello was beaming after last night's amazing 4-1 victory in Croatia - and had special praise for hat-trick hero Theo Walcott.

Of the Arsenal starlet's performance, Capello gushed: "I decided to put Theo in the first XI because of what I saw against Andorra and what he did in training during this past nine days. He has been fantastic psychologically and physically.

"He was very dangerous for their defenders. When you are facing someone like Walcott, it is not easy with his pace.

"But he will not play that level in all games. He is still very young.

"When he plays like he has this evening, he is fantastic, but when he does not play so well we have to support him."

Wayne Rooney added a fourth goal for England to put the icing on an excellent all-round team performance - in stark contrast to the shambles under Steve McClaren in the same stadium two years ago.

Capello said: "The result was better than we expected but I have seen a lot of confidence in my players during this last nine days.

"That has been evident in every training session and it's very important when you go into games. But I must stress this is only one victory. We are only in the second match of our qualifying group and there is still a long way to go."